Jewish Shopkeepers in Poland Complaining of Bad Business Because of Boycott Although Christmas Trade

December 4, 1931

Warsaw (Dec. 2)

Jewish shopkeepers, especially in the Christian quarters are complaining bitterly that although the Christmas shopping season is in full swing, they are doing practically no business because of the boycott agitation.

The Polish press is printing reports from Vilna stating that many Jewish shops there are shutting down, their owners having gone bankrupt already as a result of the boycott.

BOYCOTT NOT ONLY NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC AFFAIR SAYS SOCIALIST ORGAN CLAIMING SECTION OF GOVERNMENT PARTY ALSO INVOLVED.

The boycott movement is not only a National Democratic affair, but involves also a section of the Sanative Party (the Non-partisan Pro-Government bloc), the “Robotnik”, the chief official organ of the Polish Socialist Party, writes in an editorial. Altogether, there is a wave of antisemitism spreading through Poland, it says. But not even a child will be taken in by the belief that the boycott of Jewish trade will settle the Jewish question even by one iota, it goes on. The question has nothing at all to do with trading. The Jewish problem has developed in the course of history, as a result of a thousand different factors. It is one of the most complicated problems. The problem of Palestine and the problem of the Arabs in Palestine have something to do with it, the work of Zionism, which has come to a stop. But as for the boycott against the Jews, the “Robotnik” says, we had one in the years between 1907 and 1914, when, instead of fighting against Czarism we had our people fighting against the Jews. The same thing is happening now, with the National Democrats waging war against the Jews instead of waging war for democracy. The result is that the National Democrats are really working to the advantage of the Government.